


Moving Memories

by DodgerBear



Series: The Trevor Project [28]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 23:38:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18486784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DodgerBear/pseuds/DodgerBear
Summary: Fiona helps the family with a housing situation, Lily learns an important life lesson and Yev makes a life changing decision about his future.





	Moving Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks to everyone who has read this series so far. I’m amazed at how popular it has been! I feel like it’s winding down a little now so I may not update as often, unless I find more inspiration somewhere along the way! So just a massive thank you to everyone who has read, left kudos or commented on the series. You’re amazing 🧡

 

The daily battle for the bathroom was wearing Mickey down to the point he was about to make up a rota. The thought of living like that for much longer drove him mad, even if the prospect of Yev leaving the family home at the end of the summer meant they’d have more space. Ian placated him as best he could but even he was feeling the strain of the house bursting at the seams. Mickey was about to lose his shit when he finally got to use the shower five minutes before he was due to be at work and found all the hot water was gone but when he got out the whole house was empty; apart from Oliver, who didn’t give a shit that he had to take a cold shower in the middle of April and was at least a half hour late for work. 

“If you weren’t the smallest member of this family you’d be outta here before your paws hit the ground.” He snarked at the animal. 

“Don’t be mean to Oliver, Mick.” Ian’s voice filled the room. 

Mickey leapt in the air in shock and let out a less than masculine squeal. “Fucking hell Gallagher! I thought you’d gone to work!”

“Forgot my gym bag. You always chat to Oliver when you’re alone?” Ian grinned cheekily and picked up the bag on the floor beside the sofa. 

“Hey, he might be a fuckin hairy perverted weirdo but sometimes he’s the only bit of sense I get around here.” Mickey glared at Ian, his heart rate not quite back to normal. 

Ian stalked closer to his man, smirking in a way that had Mickey’s dick twitching in his pants. 

“Back up there, Casanova. I’m late for work.” Mickey warned with his palms up. 

“If you’re already late...where’s the harm in being a little _more_ late?” Ian tilted his head and pressed his lips to Mickey’s left palm before licking a stripe up to his fingers and pulling the middle one into his mouth and sucking hard. 

“Gallagher...” Mickey voice hitched in his throat. “Fuck.”

“You don’t wanna get on me? Not even for a minute?” Ian taunted. 

“No. You’re gonna mess me up and make me late and I’ve already had one fuckin cold shower today. So no...keep your jizz to yourself.”

“I could always come in your mouth. You can swallow the evidence.” Ian suggested cheerfully. 

“How do you make _that_ sound sexy as fuck? I’ve got serious issues, man.” Mickey shook his head in dismay at his own traitorous dick, which was now rigid and leaking in his underwear. 

“Gonna stop pretendin’ this ain’t happening and get naked for me? I’ll wear a condom if you don’t want me to mess you up.”

“Jesus fuck Gallagher. You ever known me to say no to a fuck? Swear to God you must have magic in that dick.” Mickey muttered almost angrily to himself as he stripped naked and walked into the bedroom. Ian followed him with a cocky grin and a raging erection. 

 

“We need a bigger house.” Mickey stated a few days later when he was left with cold water once again. “I dunno how or where but we need to do something. We can’t wait until Yev goes to college. Even when he does he’s gonna come home for holidays and we’re livin on top of each other here. It’s no good.”

Ian nodded seriously. “I get it. You’re right. I’m sorry I ignored it for so long. I was just hoping we could figure it out. I love our house. I love all the memories we’ve made in it.”

Mickey sighed heavily. “I know. It’s the first place that I ever felt at home. Took me a long ass time to stop worrying about Terry bursting through the front door full of booze and coke.”

Ian snorted harshly. “Fuckin asshole.”

“I guess we just have to make new memories somewhere else. If you wanna foster more kids in the future it makes sense to have more space.” Mickey added. 

Ian grinned and pulled Mickey into his arms. “You given that more thought huh?”

“A little.” Mickey admitted. “I’m not dead against it.”

“Good. So let’s look at some options at the weekend. See what we can afford.” Ian pecked Mickey’s lips and smiled reassuringly. 

 

Alice stopped by for a check in not long after the guys decide to look for a bigger place. She called it a check in but Ian knew it was more of a gossip session with Mickey over coffee and whatever baked treats Lily had made that week. Mickey would never admit it but he loved Alice’s visits. Having someone, other than the person who was crazy in love with you, validate you as a parent was something Mickey needed more than he was comfortable with. Alice recognized all of the good stuff and reassured him about the bad stuff. Hearing it from Ian was one thing, one thing he loved and needed, but hearing it from Alice was on a different level. 

“I bring good news.” She beamed and sat at their kitchen table. 

Ian placed her coffee beside her and sat down. “We can always take some good news.”

Alice handed over a piece of paper and Mickey recognized the court stamp in the corner. 

“First stage of the adoption process has been agreed by the courts. You’re approved and signed off. We just have to wait for the reports to come back from the facility confirming Mary Adams is unfit to have parental responsibility and that’s it done. Should be in the next six to eight weeks.”

Mickey exhaled shallowly. “Really?”

Alice smiled and sipped her coffee. “Really. We’re nearly there guys.”

Ian grinned happily at Mickey and reached for his hand. “That’s great news.”

“Uh...we’re thinking of moving. This place is too small for all of us. Would that have any impact on the court ruling?” Mickey asked Alice. 

She thought about it for a moment. “I doubt it. Depends on where you want to move to. But I guess you don’t mean a shack under the L...”

The two men shrugged. “Not sure yet. Definitely not under the L. Might bump into Frank. But we need somewhere bigger, only we don’t have a lot more money to spend on anywhere too fancy.” Ian replied. 

Alice nodded. “You can apply for funding from the city. Foster carers can get money to look after kids. It might help you guys out.”

“We could?” Mickey frowned. 

“Yeah. Let me see what I can do.” 

Ian breathed out a sigh. “Thanks Alice.”

 

As April turned to May the house seemed to be harmonious and steady. The boys were planning to make their second attempt to visit Harvard for the weekend and Svetlana had decided that shopping with a little princess like Lily was a fantastic way to burn through the limit on her latest sugar daddy’s credit card. They hit the shops downtown and Lily came home with bags of clothes and shoes and hearts in her eyes over the crazy Russian lady she’d spent the day with. Mickey flipped his lid the first couple of times and ranted at his ex-wife about spoiling the girl and giving her outrageous ideas about money but Lily was quick to assure him that she wasn’t interested in the goods she came home with, she just liked to hang out with Svetlana. Mickey couldn’t really grasp that. It sounded like a punishment more than a day trip. But Svetlana also told him that having a beautiful girl like Lily to spoil was so much fun for her and even Mickey had to admit that the clothes she picked out were cute and classy, nothing like what he expected Svetlana to choose. Apparently she’d outgrown her penchant for short skirts and tops that let your tits hang out. 

Mickey and Ian took the child-free opportunity to view some houses with a realtor in the hope that their savings could stretch to a place they wouldn’t be pissing money away on a repairs every other week. Everything in their price range was either a dump that was literally falling down or in an area that Mickey wouldn’t even allow Oliver to live in. 

“Total waste of fuckin time.” Mickey grumbled when the couple let themselves into the back door of the Gallagher house. Fiona was sitting at the table with a cigarette, bottle of beer and a laptop. She glanced up at the men and smiled warmly. 

“Hey. What’s goin on guys?”

Mickey just growled so Ian spoke and filled her in on their disastrous morning of house hunting. Fiona smoked in silence for a moment before stubbing it out and gulping down some beer. 

“What about this place?” She finally spoke. 

Ian and Mickey glanced at each other and then back at Fiona. 

“Huh?” Ian mumbled. 

“What?” Mickey added. 

Fiona grinned. “It’s kinda perfect when you think about it. We swap houses. You take over the mortgage on this place, I take on yours.”

Ian frowned in confusion. “Why would you do that? This place is much bigger than our house. We don’t have the savings to pay you the extra equity you’d have in this place.”

Fiona shrugged. “Long as I got your place I can make it work. Just need somewhere to sell when I can’t work any more. Call it your early inheritance.”

“Inheritance? Didn’t realize I’d be getting any at all.” Ian chuckled. 

Fiona shrugged. “It would never be much but I would like it to be something.”

“And you just thought of this now? You don’t want time to think?” Mickey asked, a stunned look on his face. 

Fiona gave another shrug. “Not much to think about. There’s only me and Liam here now. We rattle around the place while you guys are packed in your place like cattle. Be nice to not have so many rooms to keep tidy.”

“Don’t you have like memories or some shit you wanna keep this place for?” Mickey waved his arms. 

Fiona snorted. “Memories? I got a shit load of memories in this place. Only problem is, most of them I wanna forget.”

Mickey sighed. “Just don’t want you to suggest this and then wish you never did, cuz if I’m honest I think you just came up with the answer to all our problems.”

A huge grin lit up Fiona’s face. “Good. I’m glad. And I’m not gonna change my mind. Ian will tell you...this place was a house of horrors growing up.”

Ian nodded. “It really was.”

“You’d be okay living here?” Mickey asked his partner. 

“Sure. We can’t afford to dwell on issues.”

Fiona glanced at her brother and frowned at his flippant reply. “Not sure being put off by seeing your Mom slit her wrists and bleed out on the kitchen floor during Thanksgiving dinner counts as dwelling on issues Ian.”

“Holy fuck.” Mickey groaned. “I forgot about that.”

Ian chuckled darkly. “It was one of many occasions that proved our parents were an absolute shit show. If I let that stuff get to me I wouldn’t get anywhere in life.”

Mickey sighed and shook his head. “Still...we don’t gotta do this. There’s no way in hell I could live in my old house...”

“What happened to you in that house was a million times worse than what I dealt with here.” Ian retorted instantly. 

Mickey paled and Fiona raised her eyebrows in surprise. Knowing what Ian had to deal with and hearing how Mickey had it so much worse could only make her imagination run wild. 

“Fuck Mickey...was it that bad?” She winced. 

Mickey shuffled in his seat. “It was bad.”

Ian scoffed at the simplicity of his description. “It was hell on Earth. But this place doesn’t make me feel like ripping my skin off my body, so it’s all good.”

Fiona gaped in shock but didn’t probe further. She knew when someone didn’t want to get into something. 

“So we’re doing this?” 

Ian and Mickey shared a look and both nodded simultaneously. 

“If you’re sure, we’re in.” Ian grinned. 

Fiona stuck out her hand and they each shook it. “I’ll go to the bank tomorrow.”

 

Ian was at work and parked up with Donna while they grabbed a bite to eat between call outs when his cell phone rang. He chewed his sandwich quickly and frowned when he saw Lily’s name on the screen. 

“Hey Lils. What’s up?” He greeted her. 

“Pops...” Her voice was shaky and he heard the anxiety in her tone. “I need you to pick me up.”

Ian glanced at his watch and saw it was only a little after 1pm. 

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” He demanded. 

Lily sniffed. “I need to go home. Miss Williams said I could call you.”

“Are you sick?”

“Please just come for me Pops.” Lily pleaded. 

Ian sighed. “Lils, I’m at work. I can’t take off. Let me call Yev and get him to swing by school for you.”

“NO! Not Yev. Please Pops. I need you.” 

“Lily...” He started but Donna caught his eye and shook her head. 

“We can go.” She mouthed to her rig partner. 

Ian sighed. “Sit tight. We’re on our way.”

“We?”

“Donna. I just said I’m at work!” Ian was losing patience with his little girl. 

“Okay.” Lily sounded relieved. 

Donna drove just within the legal limit and they made it to Lily’s school in less than fifteen minutes. Ian hopped out of the ambulance and made his way to the office, where he found Lily in the waiting room with tear streaked cheeks. 

“Hey.” He greeted softly and scooped Lily up when she ran to him. She buried her face in his neck. 

“Thank you for picking me up.” She whispered. 

“You gonna tell me what’s going on?” He rubbed her back soothingly. 

“I started to bleed. Down there. I got scared.” She confessed anxiously, still burrowing into Ian’s shoulder. 

“Oh...okay. That’s okay Lils.” His heart thudded in realization. “It’s going to be fine.”

Lily nodded. “I told Miss Williams and she said I could go home for the day. She gave me something...so the blood would soak up.”

Ian smiled in relief. “That’s good. Do you know what’s happening to you?”

Lily shook her head. “Am I dying?”

Ian pulled back and met Lily’s terrified wide eyes. “What? No! Of course not!”

Ian was horrified that Lily could be raised to be so clueless about the female body. Even if her ultra religious parents hadn’t educated her, she should definitely have had sex ed at school long before she came to live with them. He set Lily down on the ground and crouched to her eye level. 

“You’re going to be completely fine. It’s not the greatest thing in the world to happen but every girl goes through this. I’m gonna take you home and get you settled then when I finish my shift later I’m gonna explain exactly what’s happening to you. That sound okay?”

Lily smiled shyly. “Yeah.”

Ian tweaked her nose. “I’m glad you called me. Come on, Donna is waiting outside in the ambulance. You get to ride in style.”

 

Donna smiled brightly when she saw Lily walking towards the ambulance with her hand tightly in Ian’s. 

“Hey Lily.” She greeted and the little girl gave her a happy smile. “You doing okay?”

Lily glanced up at Ian and then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Hop in.” Ian instructed and held the door open for Lily. When she was safely inside he closed the door and turned to Donna. 

“She got her period and freaked out. She thought she was dying.”

Donna gasped in horror. “Are you serious? She didn’t know this would happen to her?”

Ian shook his head. “I swear to God, I’m running out of reasons to be surprised about how fucked up their parents have been.”

“How’s she doing now?”

“Better. I told her I’d explain everything later.”

Donna reached out and squeezed Ian’s arm. “It’s awesome that she called you.”

Ian scoffed. “Not sure if she called me or called the only ambulance she knows the number for...”

“Don’t be ridiculous. She called you because you’re the best person in a crisis.” 

Ian blushed. “Am I? I don’t always think so.”

“Yeah well...your opinion of yourself isn’t as high as it should be. Come on, we’ll stop by the pharmacy to pick up some supplies before we take her home.”

 

Ian left Lily tucked up under her blanket with Oliver watching a movie and went back to work. Yev was home but was studying in his room so he was around to check on her but Ian didn’t go into any details with him about why Lily was home. When he was back on the road and heading to a call out at a nursing home he called Mickey to give him the heads up. 

“Fuck. There any reason left for us to hate those bastards?” He growled down the phone. 

“Not that I can think of...” Ian concluded. 

“Alright. I’ll be home before you but I’ll wait to talk to her. Think we need to team up for this one.” Mickey sighed. 

“This gonna be like that time where you waited for me to talk to the boys about safe sex and then let me do all the talking?”

Mickey clicked his tongue. “Maybe. You _do_ have the medical background.”

“Fuckin coward.” Ian laughed. “Gotta go. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Donna cooed when he hung up. “You guys are so sweet.”

“Fuck off.” Ian giggled. 

“You are! You’re like the parenting dream team.”

“We don’t have a fuckin clue what we’re doing most of the time.” Ian complained. 

“Same as every other parent on the planet. But you guys are nailing it. You’ve got equal amounts of love and humor to keep it going.”

“We’re finding our way, I guess.” He conceded. 

 

Lily was pale and shaky when Ian and Mickey cleared the house of the boys and sat her down for a chat. Now that she was assured she wasn’t dying it was even more of a mystery to her why she was bleeding out of her private parts. 

Ian took the lead when Mickey remained predictably quiet. 

“The reason you’re bleeding is because you got your period. Have you heard of that before?” 

Lily shrugged. “I’ve heard girls at school talk about it but I don’t know what it is.”

Ian nodded. “Okay, this is gonna be like the weirdest Biology lesson you ever had. Let me explain why it happens.”

Lily curled up on the sofa and held onto her blanket tightly. Oliver climbed onto the arm of the chair beside her while Ian talked all about eggs, Fallopian tubes and monthly cycles. Lily’s eyes widened in utter horror. 

“This is going to happen to me _**every**_ _**month**_?” She screeched. 

Ian sighed. “Yup. I know it sucks. And it can be painful too sometimes so you gotta let us know if you need any Tylenol. Taking a hot bath can help if you get cramps too, or we can get you a hot water bottle. It sucks so bad but it’s just gotta be like this. It also means that you’ve reached maturity...like you can get pregnant if you have unprotected sex.”

Mickey cut in. “Hold up. There will be no sex. Unprotected or otherwise.”

Lily shook her head. “Definitely not.”

Ian grinned to hide the embarrassment he was feeling. “Obviously not now. I’m just letting her know all the facts. It’s your body preparing you for when you’re older and you want to have babies. Remember the egg we talked about? When that’s released and you have sex without a condom the sperm from the guy swims up inside you and joins the egg. It’s called fertilization. The baby grows out of the egg. When you don’t have sex and the egg isn’t fertilized it breaks down and comes out of your body. That’s what the bleeding is.”

Lily nodded along, feeling only mild embarrassment. “I think I get it. It’s kinda confusing...my mom always said she couldn’t have babies. Was there something wrong with her eggs?”

Ian shrugged. “Maybe. It’s very possible.”

“Will I have problems with my eggs?”

Mickey rubbed his eyes, anxious to move on. “It’s not very often that women have problems. We can figure it out when you’re older.” Ian smiled. 

“In the meantime, let us know if you’re hurting and we’ll make sure we buy plenty of supplies when we do our grocery shopping.” Mickey added. 

“Thanks Pops. Thanks Dad.” Lily smiled tiredly. It was still early but she excused herself for an early night and hugged the men for dear life. When she was in bed and her door closed Ian collapsed on the sofa and groaned quietly. 

“Fuck. Having a daughter is fuckin tough.”

Mickey leaned down and pressed a kiss to Ian’s forehead, right between his eyes. “You nailed it.”

“Did I? I felt like I was rambling. Trying to keep emotion out of it and stick to the facts.”

Mickey grinned and stroked his hair back. “You did great. You’re an awesome father.”

Ian yawned and closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

“I’ll go warm up your dinner.”

“My hero.”

 

The kids were amazed at the turn of events that meant they would be moving into the Gallagher house at the end of May. The banks had signed off on all their paperwork and the names on the mortgages was switched in time for the June payment to be made by the new owners. The whole family descended to help Fiona pack up her stuff and move it to Mickey and Ian’s place, while moving their stuff out at the same time. It was a long day, and the weather was unhelpfully warm, but it was all done and they were settled in by midnight. They slept on mattresses dotted around the living room floor and ate pizza out of boxes, laughing and making plans for their new space. Ian and Mickey immediately claimed Ian’s old bedroom, the nostalgia of sharing that room too special to pass up. Lily got Debbie’s old room and excitedly chatted about how she wanted to decorate it. Yev and Blake didn’t want separate rooms, even though it was offered to them, and opted share Frank’s old room, leaving the smallest room free to be turned into an office for Mickey to do his books and the kids to study. 

“You think maybe when the house is fixed up we could turn the basement into a place for me and Blake to share?” Yev asked quietly before the family fell asleep. 

Mickey paused, waiting for Ian to object and when he didn’t he replied. “Sure. Seems like a good idea. You guys should have your own space. We can get a quote for the work. See what we can afford.”

“Thanks Dad.” Blake’s smile could be heard in his words. 

“Get some sleep. We’ve got a lotta shit to do tomorrow.” Mickey yawned. 

He was about close his eyes and sleep when his face was tickled by Oliver’s masses of fur as he curled up in a ball on his chest. 

“What the fuck? You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Mickey hissed. 

Blake shone the light from his phone torch into the room and everyone laughed when they saw Mickey was being held captive by Oliver, resting on his upper body with his butthole not even two inches from Mickey’s face. 

“That’s it. Tomorrow I’m goin out and buying a fuckin dog. Let’s see this hairy fucker deal with that shit.” Mickey snapped. 

“You’re not getting a dog, Mickey. Just push him off and go to sleep.” Ian spoke like Mickey was a petulant child. 

“He’s fuckin heavy.” 

“So are you, but I still wake up with you flat out asleep on top of me every morning.” Ian reminded him. 

Yev, Blake and Lily snickered in the darkness and Mickey fell asleep with Oliver firmly planted on his chest. 

 

Yev approached Mickey when they were alone in their new house. 

“Hey Dad. Got a minute?”

Mickey put down the box he was carrying up to Lily’s room and joined Yev in the kitchen. 

“What’s up kiddo?”

Yev bit his lip nervously and Mickey dreaded the words that were about to come. No good news started with an anxious lip bite. 

“How mad would you be if I didn’t go to Harvard?”

Mickey’s jaw dropped open. “How mad?”

Yev nodded sadly. “Yeah. I mean...I don’t wanna disappoint anyone by turning it down. But I really didn’t like the vibe of the place when I visited. And I’ve just been thinking and thinking and driving myself crazy about how to tell you but I just feel sick at the thought of going there...”

Mickey cut off his son’s rambling by grasping his shoulders. “Hey! Calm down!”

“I’m sorry. I know it’s a crazy big deal and an insane opportunity. But I know I’m gonna hate it there. I’m Southside...”

Mickey took a deep breath. “Look kiddo, are you knocking Harvard back because you don’t think you’re good enough for their fancy ass school?”

Yev shook his head. “No. I’m smart enough. I know I am. But college is supposed to be fun, right? Harvard is not gonna be fun for me. I’m not like those people.”

“Alright. I get that.” Mickey conceded. 

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m not going for the wrong reasons...” Yev added. 

“What reasons?”

“Blake.”

Mickey sighed. “You’re not, right? That’s not why you don’t wanna go. Cuz Blake will lose his shit if he finds out.”

Yev smiled sweetly. “He really would. But that’s not the reason. I love him. I could make it work between us if I moved away to Harvard...if he wanted me to.”

With a nod Mickey accepted the sincerity in Yev’s words. “Alright.”

“You’re not mad?”

“You’re still goin to college right?” Mickey checked. 

“Sure. I’ve already been accepted into U of C law school. I can live at home. If you’ll have me.”

Mickey grinned. “That’s why you want to convert the basement to a love nest.”

Yev blushed and nodded. “I guess so.”

Mickey opened his arms and Yev embraced his father tightly. “Definitely not mad. There’s no way I could go to school in North Side, so Harvard would just finish me off. I get it. So long as you know you’re good enough. I’m proud of you whatever you decide.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“Just make sure your Mom doesn’t think I had anything to do with this.” Mickey chuckled when he released Yev from his hold. 

 

Blake squinted at the laptop as he read the screen when sitting at the kitchen table. Yev walked into the room and frowned. 

“You need an eye test babe.”

“Fuck off.”

“I’m serious. You’re gonna fuck your self over if you keep squinting like that.”

“Fuck off.” Blake repeated with a glare. 

Yev chuckled. “What are you looking at?”

“Sex positions. I’m getting bored in the bedroom.” Blake deadpanned. 

“Whatever.” Yev snorted. “You went wild the other night when I did that thing where you were hanging off the end of the bed...”

Blake grinned at the memory. “Fuck yeah I did.”

Yev leaned closer and bit down on Blake’s neck. “You just let me know when you wanna mix things up again...”

Blake grabbed Yev’s hand and placed it on his crotch, pressing down to feel the friction on his dick. “How about now?”

Yev’s eye was drawn to the laptop and he read the screen. Community colleges in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

“Going somewhere?” Yev raised his eyebrows and nodded towards the laptop. 

Blake blushed adorably. “Just checking out some options.”

“Wanna try a little closer to home?”

“Oh. Um. Sure.” Blake nodded quickly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed I could come with you...”

“Hey.” Yev cut him off gently. “Of course you could come with me! But I’m not going...”

“Huh?” Blake frowned in confusion. 

Yev sighed heavily. “I’m not going to Harvard. I’m going to U of C instead.”

“No fucking way!” Blake retorted heatedly. 

Yev narrowed his eyes. “I’m serious. I talked to my Dad about it. It helped me see things a little clearer. I don’t want to go. So I’m not.”

Blake jumped to his feet. “Zhenya...this is _Harvard_! You don’t turn down Harvard!”

“Well I do.” Yev shrugged. “I didn’t like the campus. I didn’t like the douchebag preppy assholes walking around the place like they’re one of the founding fathers. And before you worry about it, I’m not staying because I don’t wanna leave you. I don’t...but I would’ve made it work. Truth is, I’m Southside. I wanna stay Southside.”

“Oh my God.” Blake laughed in disbelief. “You’re fuckin incredible.”

Yev took a bow. “Thank you.”

“So what now?”

“I sent off my acceptance for U of C law school this morning. Dad says I can stay here and I can convert the basement. So now I guess you look at colleges that aren’t in Massachusetts.”

“Damn. I had my heart set on Massachusetts.” Blake grinned and wrapped his arms around Yev’s neck. 

“You can still go...but I’m gonna be right here.” Yev murmured against Blake’s lips before he kissed him firmly. 

“How long we got the house free?”

“Until Lily gets home. Couple of hours...”

“I wanna hang off the end of the bed again.” Blake nibbled on Yev’s bottom lip. 

A bolt of electricity shot to Yev’s dick. “Don’t you wanna find a college course first?”

“Absolutely fuckin not. Come on.” Blake dragged his boyfriend up the stairs to their bedroom. 

 

Ian stretched up on his toes so he could reach the beam of wood with his paintbrush. The porch was long overdue a clean up so he was taking advantage of a day off work and good weather to get it painted up. Suddenly he felt cool hands pressing on his stomach where his shirt was riding up. 

“I hope that’s you Mick. Otherwise we got seriously over-friendly neighbors.” Ian joked. 

Mickey chuckled. “Couldn’t resist. You’re out here flauntin’ all those muscles.”

Ian turned to face his partner and pecked his lips. “I’m not flaunting anything, pervert.”

A loud purring came from the porch swing and Mickey whipped his head to look at Oliver, basking in the sunshine watching the world go by from his throne. 

“Oh look, you said pervert and he recognized his name.” Mickey drawled. 

Ian scoffed and got back to his painting. “You have a very strange relationship with Oliver.”

Mickey lifted up the cat, sat on the swing and arranged Oliver to perch on his legs. “Oliver has a very strange interest in my sex life.”

“You have a sex life?” Ian gasped. 

“Fuck off, idiot. It’s been a week. Even you can keep it in your pants for a week.”

“I’m joking Mick.”

Mickey ran his hands down Oliver’s silky fur coat. “It’s weird being back in that room.”

“Yeah?” Ian stopped painting and glanced at Mickey. 

“I guess. It brings back memories. Happy memories. When I got to live the way I wanted to live. Even if it was just pretend. Just a distraction from everything else. I was exactly where I wanted to be with exactly who I wanted to be with.” Mickey sighed and focused on stroking the cat. 

Ian nodded along. “Me too. It was before the bipolar took over completely. I was happy.”

“It’s weird being in that room, lying in bed with you, and feeling so goddamn happy with my life that my brain tricks me into thinking it ain’t real. Like I’m gonna wake up and Carl’s there hangin out of the top bunk and Liam’s in his crib watching us jerk each other off and I’ve got a crazy Russian wife I never asked for breathin down my neck for money for a kid I never asked for. It just doesn’t feel real.”

“It’s real Mick. We’re home. Our family, we’re home with our kids. It’s all real.” Ian said softly. 

“I know.” Mickey smiled at him. “I love it.”

“I love it too.” Ian winked. 

“Okay, back to work Soppy Fuck.”

Ian picked up the paintbrush and dipped it in the pot of white paint. “You just wanna sleaze over me while I work up a sweat.”

Mickey grinned and held up his hands. “No arguments from me.”

 

 

 


End file.
